The present invention relates to a storage rack and more particularly, relates to a storage rack for hockey sticks.
Hockey is a popular sport and is widely practiced in many different parts of the world. Similar to football, the sport of hockey requires a great deal of equipment and the storage of the same is always a problem. One of the pieces of equipment which requires storage is the hockey stick. At the present time, little regard is given to this problem and the sticks are often stored in a container such as a garbage container and/or left lying around the dressing rooms and the benches. As such, they present a hazard and are also subject to damage and/or loss.
There have been proposals in the art for overcoming this problem. Thus, reference may be had to Canadian application No. 2,278,063 which discloses a rack which is suitable for a dressing room or the like. The rack is designed to be fixed in place.
For many amateur teams, the hockey sticks must be transported from one location to another. As such, it would be desirable to have a rack which can retain a plurality of hockey sticks and which rack would be suitable for transporting the sticks from one location to another.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a storage rack for hockey sticks and the like.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a storage rack for hockey sticks and the like and which storage rack may be easily moved from one location to the other.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a storage rack suitable for storing hockey sticks and the like and which rack is designed to securely hold and retain the hockey sticks.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage rack for hockey sticks each having a shaft and a blade, the storage rack comprising a pair of uprights, a base, at least one support member extending transversely between the uprights, a retaining member operatively associated with the support member, the retaining member being movable between an open position wherein the hockey sticks may be placed in a storage position against the support member and a closed position wherein the retaining member retains the shafts of hockey sticks placed between the retaining member and the support member.
The storage rack may be made of any suitable material and/or combinations thereof. Thus, it can be manufactured of a metallic material or alternatively, may be formed of various plastic materials. Naturally, various components can be formed of different materials.
The storage rack is preferably easily transportable and to this end, there are provided wheels to permit the movement of the same. In a preferred embodiment, a pair of wheels are provided at the extremities of the uprights. However, other arrangements could be utilized including having more than two wheels.
In the preferred embodiment, the rack also employs a movable stand which is operative to lift the rack from the ground proximate the wheels. As such, the storage rack will then be stable when it is designed to stay in one place. The stand is movable into and out of a stored position and an operative position.
The rack includes means for accepting and retaining the hockey sticks. Preferably, there is provided means for clamping the hockey sticks in place to prevent movement thereof, particularly during the transporting operation.
In one embodiment, the storage rack may be configured such that two or more such racks may be secured together and then transported as a single unit.